


Notification System

by thealphagate_archivist



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Angst, Drama, Established Relationship, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-03-17
Updated: 2006-03-17
Packaged: 2019-02-02 01:10:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12716694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thealphagate_archivist/pseuds/thealphagate_archivist
Summary: While Jack's TDY to Andrews AFB, Daniel mysteriously disappears, and Jack's freaked!  (TDY means "Temporary Detached Duty."  It's what you do when you go do something for someone other than the base that's your "permanent station.")





	Notification System

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the archivists: this story was originally archived at [The Alpha Gate](https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Alpha_Gate), a Stargate SG-1 archive, which began migration to the AO3 in 2017 when its hosting software, eFiction, was no longer receiving support. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in November 2017. We e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are this creator and it hasn't transferred to your AO3 account, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Alpha Gate collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/thealphagate).

_Where the HELL is he?_

Jack hung up the phone, trying hard not to slam the receiver just in case Catherine hadn't hung up yet, and scowled as he looked around his living room, wondering one more time if there wasn't some kind of note here that he'd somehow managed to miss. It wasn't like Daniel to just take off without an explanation like this...or at least, Jack didn't _think_ he'd do something like that...

_No, he wouldn't_ , he re-affirmed to himself. _Granted Danny can be a little flaky sometimes...but he knows better than to just leave people hanging. He had to leave me a message_ somewhere _. I just haven't found it yet!_

Unfortunately, he'd already been over his house -- and Daniel's apartment -- with the proverbial fine-tooth comb. There was no message on either one of their answering machines, no e-mail in either one of their accounts, no note on either one of their desks here or at the SGC...nothing, nada, the big zilcheroonie!

There were no "human" messages either. All General Hammond had been able to tell him when he got back from Andrews Air Force Base this afternoon was that the good Dr. Jackson had taken some "personal leave" days and wasn't due to report back until Monday, three days from now. Jack had gone from there to see Sam, Teal'c, Janet Frasier...called anyone and everyone he could think of, primarily Catherine...and none of them could tell him any more than that either. The only thing he _could_ get out of any of them was that "whatever-it-was" had Daniel running out the door so fast, he apparently barely took time to pack!

Not that any of them were all that worried. They had all told him in one form or another that 'Daniel is a big boy. He can take care of himself. If he said he'll be back Monday...he'll be back _Monday_. '

Unfortunately, for someone with as paranoid a mind as Jack O'Neill -- that _wasn't_ very comforting. 

_Okay, Jack, Get a Grip!_ he told himself _. You don't_ know _that he's in trouble. Just because you have no idea_ why _he took off doesn't mean you should start jumping to conclusions!_

He kept trying to think of all the perfectly innocent reasons people take personal leave...weddings, special occasions, death in the immediate family...

And he kept popping right on back to the _nasty_ ones: kidnapping, extortion, death in the immediate _vicinity_. 

Jack shook his head, trying not to pace, trying not to freak. If it were anyone else, he wouldn't be this crazy. He'd take the excuse just like everyone else had, and sit back and wait for him to get back on Monday. Even taking the fact that said person was his lover...he'd had lovers have to take off before, often with little or no explanation. It was just the nature of things in the military sometimes. If it were anyone else, it wouldn't bother him -- he might be hurt that he didn't get a note -- but it wouldn't bother him. If it were anyone else...

_If it were anyone else_ , Jack thought, _I probably wouldn't be so worried...but Damn it! This is_ Daniel _we're talking about here! A trip to fucking Starbucks can be a problem for this guy!_

The problem with the innocent reasons is that _innocent_ things just didn't happen to Daniel. The man had a talent for attracting trouble. He never went looking for it; he didn't have to. He just usually showed up, and it was _there_. Like the psycho-bitch ex-girlfriend who knows all your friends and haunts and can track you down with a phone call. Like the asshole lover who's pissed that you're not returning his calls and becomes intent on making your life a living hell because of it. 

Basically, if there was a charity for "Bad Things Happen to Good People" -- then Daniel Jackson would be the poster child!

_Okay, Jack, think!_ he commanded himself, giving up the fight and starting to pace. _Who or what haven't you tried yet? You used to be Special Ops, for Christ's sake! Didn't they teach you how to track down a "pigeon" way back when?!_

He was just starting to work down the list of "favors from the intelligence community that I could call in" -- when his thoughts were interrupted by the unmistakable sound of a key turning in the lock of his front door. 

_Who the HELL_? he thought, picking up the nearest heavy object -- some gruesome African paperweight thing of Danny's -- and waited to see what the person at the door would do next. 

Much to his surprise...the person at the door merely walked through it. 

"Oh, hey, Jack," the person said, calmly dropping suitcase and duffel bag so they could close the front door. "You're back. How was DC?"

Jack just stood there...paperweight still in hand. 

The person stopped what they were doing, and gave Jack an odd look. "Um, Jack? Hello? Jack?" they asked. Then frowning at the paperweight in his right hand, added, " _What_ are you doing with that?"

Jack tried to say something -- but found that he no longer possessed the power of speech. It wasn't until the person walked up and carefully took the paperweight out of his hand, slowly putting it back where it belonged and surreptitiously checking to see if it was damaged, that he found that he could talk again. 

When he did...the volume was definitely set somewhere around ''liquefy. ''

"HOW WAS DC?!" he asked incredulously, in tones that he was sure could be heard in _Albuquerque_. "You _walk_ in here all _calm-like_ and ask, 'HOW WAS DC?!'"

Jack paused for air...then stepped forward the last few steps separating him from the object of his _volume_. "I DON'T KNOW, DANIEL!" he continued, still trying to hit the high notes for people living in New Mexico, and maybe even _Utah_ and _Arizona_ while he was at it. "Why don't _you_ tell _me_?!"

Jack stopped, exhaling loudly. After he did...he took a moment to actually _look_ at the object of his tirade. 

"Deer in the headlights" didn't quite cover it. "Bambi caught by a super-nova" seemed more appropriate. 

"Whoa..." Daniel said in a very quiet voice -- something that told Jack he'd well-and-truly-shocked the archaeologist. Usually when he yelled at Daniel, he could count on getting it right back -- but his lover was obviously still too busy trying to make sense of things to be mad yet. 

Of course...part of that might have been because he was still too busy trying to get his mouth to quit doing a really excellent "startled goldfish impersonation"...to even begin to say anything more coherent than "whoa..." 

Once he _was_ able to get his mouth under control, he asked, "What brought that on?" in the same tone of voice one would use to ask, "Why did you machine-gun all those people?"

Jack took a deep breath -- reminded himself that he _loved_ this guy -- and calmly said, "You have got to be kidding me!" at a somewhere-more-around-normal, speaking-to-someone-in-one-state-type volume. "You _disappear_ , without leaving me a reason _why_ , and you actually ask...'what brought that on?' Didn't you think I might be a little _concerned_ to come home from Washington and find that my lover was _gone_ , to somewhere _no one_ knew? That I might be thinking that some _not-nice_ people might be responsible...and maybe forced my lover to go somewhere he didn't _want_ to go? Making him do things he didn't _want_ to do? Huh? Did ya?

"I mean, Jeez-sus, Daniel, I was about to start calling the 'Alphabet People'...FBI, CIA, NSA, OSI, ATF...Hell, I'd have called the IRS, if I thought they could help!"Jack took another breath, hoping that the pounding in his head was due to oxygen deprivation, not the fact that his lover had finally caused him to lose it and blow an aneurysm or something. "I mean, Geez, Danny, you didn't call me, you didn't send me an e-mail, you didn't even leave me a note...what _was_ I supposed to _think_?!"

"I _did_ leave you a note..." 

Jack paused, not sure if he'd heard the quiet statement correctly, and not really believing it if he had. With some part of him taking in the fact that the man in front of him seemed to be getting over his previous shock...the rest of him asked, " _What_ did you say?I didn't _quite_ catch that!"

"I SAID THAT I _DID_ LEAVE YOU A NOTE!" came the _much_ louder reply. 

_Ouch_ , Jack thought as the part of him that was taking note before added, _Oh yeah. "Startled goldfish" has_ definitely _left the building!_

Meanwhile it turned out Daniel was just getting started...as anger began to flash in those big blue eyes. "Can I help it if you _obviously_ didn't take the time to look for it?!" he asked, in a much-lower, but much-colder tone of voice. "Or at least didn't look for it _enough_ before you started making assumptions that I just didn't leave one in the first place?!" He slowly took his own steps to close the now-scant distance between them, his hands clutched tightly into fists. "I mean, I tried to put it in a really logical place...somewhere that I thought you couldn't miss it..."

He paused to look at Jack intently, one of those intense glares he usually only used on people with snakes in their heads. "But I guess that was my first mistake. I guess...after five years... I still don't even begin to understand what the mind of Jack O'Neill would consider _logical_. "

_Oh, really?_ Jack thought. He threw him his own "Death-to-all-snakes" look at that, as he said in a quietly disbelieving tone, " _You_ left a note? _Where_? Wanna point it _out_ to me?"

Daniel smiled...a not-particularly-nice smile, Jack thought. "Since I _have_ to?" he replied coldly. "Sure. Follow me, Mr. 'I-was-trained-by-the-military, I-see-all-know-all, Black Ops!" With that, he turned around, leading Jack out of the living room...

And straight into the kitchen. To the front of the refrigerator, to be exact. 

"There!" he said, reaching up and tugging off one of the two or three "travel agency/vacation spot" brochures Jack had "magneted" onto the refrigerator door -- part of his ongoing quest to try to make the both of them take some "down time" sometime this century. Daniel handed the brochure to Jack and pointed. "Look at the big white space right under the company logo," he said, the not-nice smile coming back. "You'll find something there. Specifically, something the rest of the civilized world would refer to as ' _writing_. '"

Jack scowled at him as he flipped the brochure over and began to read. 

_Jack,_

_Sorry to take off like this, but I was talking on the phone with one of my old professors at Harvard today. Dr. Sorrels, you remember him?One of the few people who were actually still talking to me around the time of my LA lecture, whom you said I should look up about a year ago?Well, it turns out he's been diagnosed with cancer and is going to have to go into the hospital to start chemo treatments this week. I know that's not going to be easy for him, especially for a man his age, and I'd like to go spend some time with him. I shouldn't be gone long. I'll probably be back by Friday, Sunday at the latest. I just figure this is the least I can do for him after everything he's done for me._

_See you this weekend,_

_Daniel_

Jack flipped the brochure over and looked at it, somehow finding himself mesmerized by the picture of Maui on the cover. He _had_ checked the refrigerator when he'd looked, but he'd thought that Daniel would have used a piece of paper...a yellow sticky...a used candy-bar wrapper...something, anything other than the same stuff that was stuck to the frig, day-in-and-day-out, which Jack almost didn't register as _being there_ anymore...his own gambit to try to get himself to set something up not even working in the slightest. 

_THIS was his NOTE?_ Jack couldn't help thinking in amazement. 

Somewhere in the background, he was aware of Daniel speaking. 

"I would have _called_ you," he was saying, in his still coldly angry voice,"but I _knew_ you were on one of those TDY's to Andrews...you know, the ones that don't necessarily mean that you're actually _at_ Andrews." He smirked...and Jack took a second from his current object of obsession to take note that Daniel had actually caught on to that...something he'd have to remember in the future. 

"I would have _e-mailed_ you," he continued, "but someone is _infamous_ for not checking his e-mail. "Oops, okay...that was true. Couldn't deny that one...especially when there were Blue Mountain cards from _last Christmas_ still sitting in his in-box. 

"Thus," Daniel concluded, with one of those tones he only used on really dense Marines, "I figured the _note_ would just have to do it. I didn't want to take a chance on leaving a message with someone at the SGC, and then have you not talk to them today. I thought leaving it on _your own refrigerator_ would take care of that." He smirked again, something Jack was beginning to dislike as much as the "not-nice" smile. "Silly me," was all he said after that, shaking his head. 

Jack looked at him...then looked at the brochure in his hand...then looked at him again. 

He couldn't help the words that came out of his mouth. 

" _This_ was your _note_?!" he said, more of a statement of disbelief than a question, his still intense amazement evident in his voice. 

Daniel frowned at him, as if this wasn't the tack he'd expected Jack to take into the next phase of their argument. "Um, yes," he said, licking his lips and giving Jack an odd look. "You _know_ that. You _just_ read it!"

Jack looked back down at the brochure, flipping it over in his hands, until he got to the part where the white part with the writing, surrounded by the company logo on top and a small map of Hawaii on the bottom, was visible. He held it up and out towards the other man, before repeating what still seemed to be the only words he could form. 

" _This_ was your _note_?!" he repeated, pointing at the square of space on the rather garishly colored brochure, which was intensely cluttered with type and pictures. He looked at Daniel -- wondering if the man would _get_ what he was _getting at._ " _This_?" he asked again. 

Daniel was beginning to look a little bit uncomfortable...a good sign in Jack's eyes. It kept that damn smirk off his face.

"Well," the linguist began, a tad uncertainly, Jack thought, "it _is_ a note. I mean, the _definition_ of a note is just a message communicated on some kind of medium. "He glanced at the brochure Jack was still holding up in the air, and Jack could tell that in typical Daniel-fashion, being no longer certain that he was in the right meant that he was having a hard time hanging onto his anger. "This definitely does that, you have to admit," he finished somewhat lamely. 

Jack lowered his arm -- it was getting tired -- as almost against his will, a silly smile broke out across his face. " _This_ was your _note_ ," he said calmly, not really understanding where the urge to laugh hysterically was suddenly coming from. He shook his head at the other man, this man that he had to admit that he was really happy to see in one piece, despite the fact that he was currently _scowling_ at Jack like he'd wish he'd disappear. Slowly and carefully, still trying to hold back the giggles, he put the brochure down on the counter, before walking over to his lover. 

"Hey, you left me a note," he said quietly as he wrapped his arms around the tense, but not resisting, younger man, pulling him as close as he possibly could. Gently, he kissed the side of Daniel's neck, as his hands rubbed across the other man's back and shoulders, enjoying the feel of him in his arms. Gradually, the younger man relaxed, letting go of his tension, and returned the embrace, his own hands ghosting across Jack's own back. 

"It wasn't a great note," Daniel murmured, his breath making contact with the skin above Jack's collar, sending a shiver down Jack's spine. For no real reason he could name, Jack pulled him even tighter, as the hysterics started to rise again, this time threatening to spill over into tears rather than laughter. Daniel didn't say anything, but Jack could tell from the way _he_ held on tighter, that he knew something was wrong. Jack took a deep breath, almost tasting Daniel's unique smell, and felt that calm him somehow, this tangible evidence of his lover's presence, as he continued to hold him, to feel him, safe and sound, here in his arms. 

It was some time before either one of them spoke again. 

"Jack, I'm sorry," Daniel said, his voice a vibration against Jack's shoulder. "I didn't mean to scare you. I really did think --"

"Danny. "Jack cut him off, pulling back from their embrace, so that he was looking at the other man, their lips barely a breath apart. "It's not important right now, okay?"He leaned forward so that their lips brushed against each other, the lightest of kisses, before pulling back again and taking his lover's hand in his. "C'mon," he said, as he turned to walk out of the kitchen. "I think we've talked enough about this, don't you?"

To his relief, Daniel just nodded and followed. 

In the bedroom, Jack suddenly felt like he'd never seen the place before. He'd only been gone a couple of weeks...yet somehow something along the way had changed. It was the same furniture, the same room, but still it felt strange to him. It was almost as if he didn't belong there anymore...

Or as if something that _did_ belong was _missing_. 

Then Daniel put his arms around him...and Jack felt the strange misgivings go away. To be replaced by something else. A need, a hunger, an overpowering sensation of what he needed to make himself _know_ that everything was all right. 

He turned and kissed Daniel deeply, feeling himself get lost in the kiss. A sensation of numbness passed through his being as he was only peripherally aware of clothes being shed and skin meeting skin, until their fumblings finally landed them on the bed, with Jack partially draped over Daniel. Realizing where they were, and knowing what he wanted, he lost no time trying to reacquaint himself with every inch of his lover. Mapping him with mouth and hands, he covered every spot of skin with an almost desperate need, barely remembering not to leave marks in places that could be seen, as his intensity and the moans that were beginning to build in his lover urged him on at a nearly reckless pace. Finally, when he knew that he could wait no longer, he moved back up the other's body, stopping only to lose himself kissing that mouth again, as his hand reached underneath the pillow, and came up with the tube of lubricant they always kept there. 

It was only after he had to struggle to hold on to it that he realized that his hands were shaking. 

"Here. "Daniel sat up and reached out, rolling the tube from Jack's palm to his, as he took both his hands and held them in his own. Kissing them lightly, he then let go—only to move to wrap his arms around Jack's shoulders, pulling the kneeling man close to his own body, as one hand set up a comforting rhythm along the back of Jack's neck and upper back. "It's all right," he began to breathe into the skin beneath Jack's ear. "I'm here, I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere. I promise. "As Jack allowed himself to settle into Daniel's embrace, this constant pulse of heat and sound became a soothing mantra to his tightly wound nerves—enabling him to get a hold on his fluctuating emotions—and force them to concentrate into one steel-bound feeling of certainty. 

Slowly, he lifted his head from Daniel's shoulder and turned his head so that he was looking into the other man's eyes. "I love you," he breathed, as he lifted one-now-very-certain hand to his lover's mouth, gently running his thumb across his lower lip. Then he moved that hand to the back of his neck—so that he could pull him into a kiss that he hoped said everything else that he couldn't quite fit into those three little words. 

_Need you...Want you...Don't EVER want to let you GO..._

Need became action as Jack felt himself pull Daniel to him, to allow the comforting weight and heat of his lover's body to settle into his sitting embrace, to press chest against chest, skin against skin, to make the fact that he was there feel as real as possible. Hands pressed into back and shoulders as they both tried to push themselves further against each other, into each other—kissing with mouths that knew only soft wet heat, punctuated by gasps of needed air—until finally they both pulled away long enough to look into each other's eyes and see what they both needed to do. 

The mechanics of preparation were easy for both of them at this point, and it wasn't long before Jack felt the comforting sensation of his lover settling back against him— _before_ taking his breath away by shifting himself _onto_ him. The feel of gradually being enveloped in the heat of Daniel's body almost always left him gasping for air, but this time...this time, there was no describing how good it felt. It was like someone had removed every memory he had of doing this before—removed the easy familiarity that inevitably set into every loving relationship—and made the familiar weight...heat...pressure...into totally new sensations. The sense of being buried in his lover always made him feel connected...completed... even _possessive,_ although he'd never admit that to Daniel...but this time the familiar ring of _MINE_ ringing through his head didn't make him feel the least bit uneasy. This man was _his_ —not in terms of property, maybe—but they _belonged_ to each other, _with_ each other. And each movement, each touch, each stroke...was just their bodies reinforcing what Jack knew down in his _soul_. 

_MINE...my lover, my love, my partner...and anyone who tries to take that away...better be ready to_ die _trying..._

Touching, kissing, rubbing, moving...each push of their bodies against each other...the mantra kept on in his mind, building with the feeling in his body. As the sense of the coming release grew within him, he became sensitive to the similar vibration rising in his lover's body. Kissing and nipping along the other man's neck...he held on as tightly as their mingled movement would allow, wanting to feel the growing shudders and moans vibrate against his skin, as they both neared completion. 

Finally, he felt his lover let go, as wetness hit his chest, and a warm mouth bit down on the skin where the nape of his neck met his shoulder. The shaking heat around him clamped down— _held_ him—causing his own release to flow through him...and pump his own wetness into the comforting heat of his lover's body. 

Jack sighed, as Daniel's head rested on his shoulder, his body a warm, heavy weight in his arms. _This_ felt the same, Jack thought, this armful of relaxed, content archaeologist, pressing against him like a comfortable blanket, the mingled mess of sweat and semen between them barely even noticed in the peace of the moment. It felt nice...comfortable... _good_ like always, and Jack thought if he wasn't a guy, he might be willing to take this over sex...

_Just MIGHT...mind you...He was, after all,_ still _a guy..._

He smiled at the thought, and smiled again as Daniel lifted his head and looked at him with that incredibly relaxed expression he got right after sex. Still thinking to himself, _I'm a guy_ , he couldn't help the sappy thought that crossed his mind, commenting that Daniel looked so much like some artist's idea of an angel, with his large blue eyes, those cheekbones, and that wonderfully beautiful mouth. An angel, with those great shoulders, and slender hips, and...

And a sinfully beautiful mouth _(Didn't he cover that already?)_ with an evil tongue that was suddenly latching onto his, as those lips moved against his, and tried to suck the very air out of his lungs...

Jack gasped, as Daniel finally pulled back, smiling evilly at his lover's need for air. Jack just looked at him, knowing that he couldn't help but smile back at the mischief in his lover's eyes...even as his lungs tried to desperately remind him that he really needed oxygen to survive, and smiling at the person who caused him to asphyxiate didn't seem like a good idea to them...

_A fallen angel, more like it_ , he thought amusedly, shaking his head at the younger man, as a wave of affection washed over him, and caused even his offended lungs to give in and get sappy. _One that knows exactly how to use all that beauty to his best advantage, to pull you in and rock you so hard..._

Jack's thought was interrupted as Daniel abruptly pulled him in for a second lung-searing kiss. He tried to regroup, to complete whatever his original intent was...but all he could manage to think was, _God, it feels SO good to be responsible for the fall!_

They stayed like that for a long moment—Jack deciding to just go with the flow and give back as good as he was getting—before the lack of air became too much for both of them. Finally deciding to move apart, they eased out of the embrace—Daniel planting one last kiss on the tip of Jack's nose, grinning the whole time—and eased themselves down onto the mattress, the soft give of the comforter cushioning the muscles in Jack's lower back that were just now starting to ache, the cool fabric feeling good against his over-heated skin. If there was one thing about his involvement with Daniel that he regretted, it was that it hadn't happened twenty years earlier when Jack would have had the energy to _really_ enjoy it. Of course, twenty years ago would have made Daniel illegal...so maybe ten years ago would have been better...but then he would have to deal with a twenty-six year-old Daniel to his thirty-five, and something told him that would be _just_ as bad as forty-five currently was to thirty-six...

He looked over at his lover, who was smiling at him like if Jack gave the word, he'd be ready to go again. But he knew that Jack was way too tired to do that right now...and he just found that way too amusing, to Jack's way of thinking. 

Jack mock-glared at the grinning man. "You're evil...but you knew that already, didn't you?" he said, trying to sound like someone who'd accidentally made a deal with the devil and had become resigned to his fate. "That sweet and innocent thing you were doing when we first met, it was all just an act, wasn't it?"

Daniel was still smiling as he reached behind him to the nightstand and snagged the box of Kleenex they kept there without even looking. "You got me, Colonel," he drawled, like some villain out of a bad Western, as he handed Jack the box. "I'm only sleeping with you to get to your CD collection. Once I found out you were an opera buff, I just knew I had to get close to you somehow." He smirked as Jack cleaned up the mess Daniel's orgasm had made of his torso. "Having mind-blowing sex with you just seemed like the best way to do it. "

"Really? Lucky me then," Jack retorted as he handed the box, and the used tissue, back to Daniel, who'd gotten so used to Jack doing this, he'd finally just moved a wastebasket underneath the nightstand. "I guess this would be a bad time to tell you I've sold all of my opera CDs and decided to become a devotee of Britney Spears then. I just _love_ her lip-synching! I was thinking about getting us tickets for her next concert!"

Daniel actually shuddered as he turned back. "Don't even joke about that," he said as he settled back onto the pillow. Jack grinned. Daniel's idea of Hell was being stuck in a room or a car with some of what passed for "Pop Music" these days playing in the background. He took music very seriously, and Britney and her multi-colored band of imitators offended him straight to the core. Jack privately wondered how the people Daniel liked were any better—this Michael Stipe guy _mumbled_ his way through songs, for Christ's sake—but he could handle the likes of Stipe, Eddie Vedder, and Morrissey in order to stay close to Daniel. It was just when he played that tribal music that sounded like cats being tortured that Jack had to "get subtle" and hand him a set of headphones. 

At least he thought it was tribal music, anyway... 

Daniel's voice broke into his reverie. "Better?" he asked, in a quiet tone of voice that told Jack that he wasn't asking about no longer having semen on his chest. The look of concern on his face touched Jack somewhat...and reminded him why he put up with things like music that sounded like it'd been recorded in a back alley behind a fish market. 

"Much," he replied, smiling at his lover in a way he hoped showed that he meant it—then frowned as a new thought ran across his mind, making him suddenly very uncomfortable. "Did I apologize for jumping all over you earlier?" he asked, abruptly lifting his head off the pillow, and supporting it on his hand. Seeing the surprise on Daniel's face, he had to look away for a moment, as he realized that a) he had overreacted _somewhat,_ b) he wasn't the world's greatest apologist, and c) Daniel had obviously expected to just have to suck it up and overlook it...like he did so many other things. 

Jack sighed. _God, I am such an asshole..._

"If I didn't," he began a little hesitantly, "...well, I just want to say that I'm sorry. I was worried...." He looked back up at Daniel. "But that's no excuse for taking it out on you like I did." He shrugged his shoulders awkwardly. "Anyway, I'm sorry. You've got every right to be pissed as Hell at me if you want."

Daniel just shook his head at him, smiling ruefully. "It's okay. I didn't leave you the best note, so I kind of had it coming." He sighed as he looked up at the ceiling. "I guess we need to set up some kind of system so this sort of thing doesn't happen again in the future." He glanced back at Jack, a little bit of his earlier anger coming back into his eyes. "Thanks to _someone's_ bad habit of not checking things, any type of useful technology designed _just for_ this kind of thing is out of the question."

Jack grimaced, but had to admit that he had that coming. Trying to lighten the mood, he replied, "Well, I guess there's always smoke signals."

Daniel sort of smiled at him, then picked up the game—a sure sign to Jack that he'd been forgiven. "Carrier pigeons. You don't have to worry about forest fires that way."

Jack smiled back, pretended to consider it, then shook his head. "But then we'd have to put up with all of that bird crap. Pigeons are the worst for that." He thought again, then leered in Daniel's direction. "You could always send me a Strip-o-Gram."

Daniel closed his eyes and grinned. "Yeah, right. I'll just make sure that Sam's around so she can enjoy it too." He opened one eye and looked at Jack. "Or maybe Teal'c. You'd have a great time explaining this 'Human Messaging Service' to him." He closed his eye again, looking to Jack like he was about ready to roll over and have this discussion some other night. He decided to get serious. 

"How about one of those erasable marker boards?" he suggested, leaning over the sleeping man next to him. "We can even put it up on the refrigerator, if you'd like."

"Deal," came the response from underneath him. "Now, can we get under the covers? I'm getting cold."

"Deal," Jack replied in the same tone of voice Daniel had used. Quickly, he pulled the covers back, and he and Daniel got underneath, Daniel immediately snuggling up to him, trying to leach any and all of his body heat. Jack sighed and pulled him close, too grateful to have him safe and in his arms to even begin to complain about things like "archaeologist-induced hypothermia."

He thought Daniel was asleep, when a voice from somewhere around his chest spoke up."Jack?" it asked.

"Yeah, Daniel?" He replied, wondering if Daniel was really awake, or just talking in his sleep."What is it?"

"You do realize that the first time you write something like 'Daniel, we're out of milk. Get some. 'I'm tearing it down and buying you a cell phone?"

Jack smiled and rubbed a hand gently across Daniel's back. "I'll just throw in it the lake again...you know that, don't you?"

"Yeah," was the sleepy response. He felt a light kiss being laid on his chest. "I love you...you technophobe." He felt Daniel "burrow in" against his body, obviously going to sleep. 

He couldn't help himself...even though he had a feeling that if Daniel wasn't asleep...he was probably going to get hit. "I love you too...Note Boy."

_OOF!_


End file.
